E-readers vs. Physical Copies

A couple days ago I started talking with my boyfriend’s friend about a popular manga that we both like. I told him that I had started reading the manga years ago when I got it at the library and would love to own the whole series, but had absolutely no room on my shelves for it.

This manga is about 72 volumes, each about the size of a normal paperback book. 72 books! It would take up an entire shelf if I got them all! A lot of mangas tend to have a bunch of books, but it all depends on how they sell and if the author/illustrator wants to continue with the series.

I love manga, but have been so apprehensive about getting physical copies due to the fact that if the series gets really long I won’t have the room for all of them. I do have some series started, yet I always hem and haw over getting the next book and then the next one.

My boyfriend’s friend asked if I ever thought of getting them as an ebook to save space. Yes, I have thought of this. I actually have the first 6 or 7 books in a manga on my Nook. I love the fact I can save space, but I have a few issues with ebooks vs physical books.

Now this can apply to any and every book not just manga. I just brought up those as they can take up a TON of space. I haven’t used my Nook in forever. I honestly can’t even remember the last time I picked it up. I love the features it has for highlighting passages and quotes and looking up words you don’t know. Mine even allows you to zoom in while reading a manga, but I almost feel like I don’t own the books if that makes sense.

Normally, I peruse my shelves when looking for any of the books that I own and totally forget to look at my Nook. I’ve bought ebooks before and then bought a physical copy because I forget that I already have one. My wallet can’t stand that.

I guess I’m just big on actually having a book in my hand were I can turn the pages and smell them. Nothing beats that. Now I’m not saying that I won’t ever use an ereader, but I highly prefer my physical copies.